The present invention relates to keyboards and more particularly to a waterproof keyboard with improved characteristics.
Conventionally, keyboard is the most important input device of a personal computer (PC). However, a conventional keyboard suffered from a disadvantage. For example, it is not waterproof. As such, keyboard may malfunction due to short circuit of the circuit unit therein if water accidentally enters into keyboard. A number of prior art such as Taiwanese Patent Publication Nos. 194,192, 254,445, and 279,523 disclose waterproof keyboards for eliminating above disadvantage.
Another conventional waterproof keyboard such as Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 236,428 discloses a plurality of tubes and holes provided on upper housing and lower housing respectively wherein water may flow through tubes to store in a reservoir in the lower housing, thereby preventing water from entering into circuit unit of keyboard.
But this is unsatisfactory for the purpose for which the invention is concerned for the following reasons:
1. Complex in construction due to the provision of tubes and holes on keyboard.
2. Costly to manufacture.
3. The waterproof feature is not well. Water still can enter into keyboard.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an improved waterproof keyboard having various advantages such as completely waterproof, easy assembly, and cost effective.
To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides a waterproof keyboard wherein a membrane made of waterproof material under the circuit unit is sealed to the edge of elastomer member for sealing circuit unit between elastomer member and membrane.
The above and other objects, features and advantages, of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings.